Louis Rousseau, Vice-President Marketing and Communications, brings 17 years of experience in the information and communication technology industry to SENSIO. Recognized for his corporate vision and his multidisciplinary approach, Mr. Rousseau has exercised a variety of roles in major companies such as Sprint Canada, Quebecor, and most recently, as a Director of Marketing and Product Development at Vidéotron. His past roles have involved contributing his expertise to the development and implementation of solutions, structures and teams to accomplish strategic and operational goals. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from HEC Montreal, which he obtained after studying Engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada. He is also a member of several professional associations.
Bijan Tehrani: Please tell us about the background of SENSIO?
Louis Rousseau: SENSIO was founded in 1999; the two founders were initially from the banking world. They had a vision of bringing 3-D into homes everywhere. The achievement of this goal involved two key elements: 1) how to bring 3D using the existing 2D infrastructure and 2) how to maintain the highest image quality in order to give the best 3D experience. On the technical side, they started researching, developing, and testing several 3D formats and came up with the SENSIO approach (SENSIO 3D format). This work resulted in winning the 2003 CES Design and Engineering Showcase Honors award for a product called the S3D-100. That product was a video processor set top box and it was used between the DVD player and the projection movie unit. S3D-100 was able to decode 3-D movies from the major studio’s 3-D movies. SENSIO negotiated the rights to recode movies from the 70’s and 80’s into the SENSIO 3D format. This first product has created a lot of positive responses from the Hollywood Studios and the Consumer Electronic manufacturers. It broke the paradigm that 3D at home could only be experienced via Red and Blue glasses. For the first time people could experience Imax® 3D experience at home.
BT: What part has SENSIO played in developing 3-D live?
LR: We have played a very major role. We had the idea of doing this back in 2007 and we started implementing the SENSIO 3D format into satellite receivers with IDC. Since January 2009 all Live 3D presentations to cinemas have been done in SENSIO. For 3D Live to cinemas, SENSIO has become the de facto standard. SENSIO was chosen for this type of distribution because of the quality and the robustness of the solution offered by the company to the industry. SENSIO technology was even used was for the FIFA World Cup, which gave people the opportunity to watch the games in 3D and for a fair price. This event was the First 3D Live world wide event which was broadcast to 33 countries on 475 screens The SENSIO 3D Live network in cinemas is the only distribution platform where 3D Live is able to monetize these type of events and make a viable business model. So every step of the way in the 3D Live environment we have been there as a pioneer. We were the first to go into multiple rooms in a worldwide event.
BT: Will SENSIO be a part of the upcoming 3D Networks?
LR: By offering a network of over 700 3D cinema screens around the world we are a strong enabler for creating 3D Live content. We’re helping this movement, we have had discussions with several different partners; we can’t really say at this point what is in store but we are definitely involved. The SENSIO 3-D format is ideally suited to work on any type of distribution channels (broadcast, streaming, download, etc…) and we have the capability to bring the full quality of the original image to the home market.
BT: A lot of the accessories in terms of the 3D market such as glasses, screens and projectors can be very confusing to the consumer and they might not know what to buy. Can you explain to our readers on how they should approach the 3D market?LR: First they should know that what they are experiencing is totally normal. We actually believe that 2010 is the year of confusion for 3D for the reasons you just mentioned and more. A little while ago, before this year started, we predicted these types of problems because everyone had their own standards and ways of doing things. This will bring the market down in the sense that people will be confused by this. People in the industry will need to sit down and create a merging standard and eventually universal equipment will be released. For instance, Monster is coming out with a pair of glasses that should be able to work with several different types of products. So your readers should not feel alone in this confusion and should be informed as to what they are buying. Regarding SENSIO, our technology is universal to all types of 3D display. So by choosing SENSIO, customers can be assured of a few things- they are getting the best 3D quality and that their product will be compatible with what is offered now and in the future for 3D.
BT: We had a chance to watch two of your films, The Bugs and Spy Kids, both of which had amazing 3D effects. We were able to watch them on the Aspen media player but they would not play on the Panasonic player.
LR: In order for the player to work the product must have an encoding SENSIO 3D decoder device. The Aspen player has this but the Panasonic player does not. For people that are trying to play 3D DVDs it would help if they had SENSIO chips inside of their players or TVs.
BT: What are some products that consumers can look forward to in the future and what are the future plans of your company?
LR: The prospects are really good for the home market. A couple of years from now I think that all TVs being sold will have built-in 3D capabilities. 3D will be a premium type of service will be used for special sporting events and mainstream movies. Our SENSIO 3D format offers the best quality on the market today and will be an integral part of this market. Also, because of how the SENSIO 3D format is developed, anywhere you can watch 2D content you will be able to watch in 3D in the near future.